Australia Post has raised the price of many of its services, with printers and mailing houses set to take a hit as a result. The price of standard registered post products, certain domestic and international products and services, and selected packaging products for consumer retail customers will go up, with the new prices on the
Australia Post website (http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/new-prices.html).
Affected products and services include packaging products, express post prepaid envelopes, registered post, return paid parcels, local, country and within 50km parcels on the domestic front, as well as airmail letters and aerogrammes, airmail and sea mail parcels, Pack & Track international, and registered, express and express courier to international destinations. The price of a return paid parcel has risen to match the cost of sending an equivalent parcel, though the flat rate for returning a parcel of up to 500g in Australia remains at $6.95. The basic postage rate of 60 cents for sending a letter in Australia remains the same. Australia Post says the price increases were driven by a challenging economic environment, with rising costs of raw materials, delivery, transport and energy – and that it is currently reducing operating costs and improving network efficiencies as well as adjusting prices to recover its true costs. It also claims to be enhancing its products, for example, providing additional tracking during the delivery journey for registered post. Australia Post also upped charges for some parcel products in April – mostly, it says, by less than seven per cent. A company statement says, “We understand that price increases are never easy for our customers, and the decision to implement these cost recovery measures is taken very seriously. “We remain committed to improving our products and services and providing them to our customers at competitive prices.” Bill Healey, CEO of Printing Industries Australia, says that though the October price rises are not good news, the PIAA is mostly concerned with the rising costs of bulk mail, which is not currently being monitored by Australia’s competition watchdog, the ACCC. He adds that bulk mail charges rose twice in 2013, in March and July, and are scheduled to do so again in March of next year.
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